The field of the invention is household devices and the invention relates more particularly to convenience and safety devices relating to electrical cords.
Many small appliances include an electrical cord which is typically stored by wrapping the cord around the appliance when the appliance is not in use. While a few appliances provide means for securing the cord when it is wrapped around the appliance, most do not have such a feature and therefore the storing of such appliances is typically untidy; and when the appliance is removed from its shelf or drawer, many times the cord is entangled on other objects. Secondly, in the use of many appliances, the cord is longer than necessary and means for shortening the cord would facilitate the use of the appliance. Numerous devices have been proposed for the directing of electrical cords; and a clip for routing conduits and conductors is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,659,319. While such device is useful for routing conduits and the like, it does not have the ability to securely grasp a cord and, instead, just generally encircles it. A cord holding device is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,702,443 which is designed for use on hospital beds, but its size would be impractical for the problem faced by the present applicant. Another cord holding device is shown in U.S. Pat.No. 4,417,710 but this involves the use of an encircling strap which would be difficult to attach and would not provide sufficient convenience. Electrical devices have been secured with adhesive strips as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,029,303; and coiling devices were used before the advent of spiral telephone cords as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 1,140,980. Lastly, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,125,243, a sign holder with a resilient base utilizes a device with a curved channel through it. None of the above devices solves the problem of holding an appliance cord at a desired location.